Caged Canary
by Wolfsong98
Summary: Lex Luthor will not live in a cage.


Title – Caged Canary

Author – Amy/wolfsong98

Rating - PG

Word Count – 2399

Summary – Lex Luthor will not live in a cage.

Beta: Travis

Author's Notes – Thanks to Travis for both suggesting the title and being my beta for this story. All other mistakes are mine. Not sure where this is headed. Could be simply a one shot or there could be more to come.

Disclaimer - I do not own any of the recognizable characters, I'm only borrowing them. I promise to give them back when I'm done.

Lex Luthor calmly strode forwards as he took his place in front of the gathered crowd and smiled. _Fools_, he thought to himself as he surveyed the Who's Who of metropolis that were lucky enough to get invited to this ceremony.

Shortly thereafter, the wedding march began and the double doors at the far end of the room were slowly pulled opened to reveal Lois Lane in a stunningly beautiful white dress. Luthor allowed his smile to broaden as he watched her start down the aisle.

He had won and his prize was slowly advancing towards him. To him, that was simply all Lois Lane was to him, a prize. It was one that he intended to enjoy until she was no longer interesting to him. When that happened he would toss her aside like yesterday's paper and Lois Lane would become the newest ex-Mrs. Luthor. The billionaire was so engrossed in his thoughts that he failed to notice the blank look on Lois' face as she took her time marching towards the end of her life as she knew it.

The Daily Planet had been destroyed. It had been a thorn in his side for way too long and in the process had outlived its usefulness. Furthermore, in its destruction, the Daily Planet proved to be useful one last time. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back in severing the friendship between the two reporters. Lois refused to believe that Lex was capable of something like that when Clark tried to tell her his suspicions that Luthor was behind the Planet's demise. Kent didn't realize it, but he was living on borrowed time. The only reason that the reporter was still breathing in the first place was the fact that Luthor had needed his help to get to Superman. Now that Lex had the famed Man of Steel right where he wanted him, the reporter was no longer necessary.

Luthor's smile grew even larger as he thought about how he had bested Superman when it came to the one thing that they both had in common… an appreciation for the woman that was Lois Lane.

Speaking of that blasted alien, it had been ridiculously easy for him to capture his prey. He had Mrs. Cox make one well-timed phone call to Kent and then using the Superman's antagonism for him it was relatively easy to get him in position to drop the cage. The billionaire relished the look on the man's face as it went from smug to fearful as soon as he felt the effects of the Kryptonite coating.

There was only one thing that would make this day even better and that was Superman's death at his hands. In fact, Luthor had a plan to accomplish that very feat. Once Lex was officially married, he planned to excuse himself from the new Mrs. Luthor and swiftly dispatch the Man of Steel. Even better, he could use the truth, twisted slightly in his favor, as a reason for the Man of Steel's disappearance. The groom was still gloating when his prize's voice jolted him out of his thoughts.

"The Archbishop?" Lois asked in an awed whisper.

"Yes, I'm sorry. The Pope had a prior engagement. Is that a problem?" Lex whispered back as the two of them turned to face the Archbishop. "You look beautiful." He added softly but, to his future bride, it had sounded as if were simply an afterthought.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God, and in the presence of these witnesses, to join this man and this woman together in holy matrimony."

Lois turned her head slightly so that she could scan the gathered crowd. As she did so, her heart sank. Clark, Perry, Jimmy, and even Jack were conspicuously absent. The young woman had expected it, but the simple fact was it did not make any difference. It still hurt. Lois considered them to be her family more than her biological one ever was.

"You do what your heart tells you to do." Her mother's words replayed in her head alongside memories of Clark Kent. Suddenly, Lois knew exactly what she had to do.

"I do." She heard Lex answer confidently.

"And do you, Lois, take this man to be your wedded husband from this day forward, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?"

It was the moment of truth. Lois' mouth suddenly went dry and she found it hard to speak. "I… I…"

"Lois?"

"I can't. Lex I'm sorry, but I can't marry you. My heart belongs to someone else." There was a stunned silence before the doors she had entered through were forced open, hitting the wall with a loud bang.

"Lois!"

It was Perry, Jack, and Jimmy. The frown that she had been sporting mere minutes earlier dissolved, transforming itself into a radiant smile that stretched from ear to ear. In her happiness at seeing her family, she threw off her veil and kissed Luthor on the mouth. "Lex they came!"

"Stop the wedding. You can't marry this man." Perry ordered, his southern accent complementing his booming voice nicely, as he marched down the aisle. Jack and Jimmy were at his sides with Inspector Henderson and several of Metropolis' finest right behind them.

"Is there an echo in here?" Lois asked as she threw her hands up in the air, inadvertently tossing her bouquet. "I just said that."

"What is the meaning of this?" Lex demanded. It was his furious voice that drew her attention from her former coworkers to the many cops that had filled the already crowded room.

"Lex, what is going on?"

"The meaning of this Luthor is that you're through. We have all the evidence against you that we need." Perry growled.

"Evidence of what?"

Henderson ignored Lane's question. Instead, he pulled a piece of paper out of his suit pocket. "This is a warrant for your arrest for the crime of arson as well as other crimes which are too numerous to mention."

Luthor just stared at him, feigning surprise. "You're out of your minds, both of you." Lois was unable to do anything but stare as the Inspector began reading Lex his rights.

"Will you shut up?" He snarled. "I can afford a thousand attorneys. I'll have your badge… no your head for this. Someone get me the Governor on the phone! Get me the President!"

Lois 'Mad Dog' Lane was truly stunned. Of all the things that could go wrong on her wedding day, the possibility of something like this happening was certainly something that she had never even considered. She took a step away from her former fiancé, seeing his true colors emerge for the first time.

Luthor's tirade was interrupted by the pair of doors swinging open once again. He was surprised to see that Mrs. Cox was being escorted into the room, her hands cuffed. The two detectives, who were escorting her, scowled at him. Mrs. Cox simply gave her former boss a smile and laughed. It was at that moment when he realized that she had betrayed him. No one double-crossed Lex Luthor and lived to tell the tale.

"Et tu Mrs. Cox?" The billionaire asked before turning to face his fiancé. Gently, he picked up her right hand where he tenderly kissed it. Lois didn't know whether to jerk her hand away, slap him, or just stand there and do nothing.

"Sorry, honey. I'm afraid that I'll have to take a rain check. Something has come up."

"Don't call me honey." Lois snapped.

Henderson went to grab one of Lex's wrists in order to handcuff him. The next thing the Inspector knew, Luthor had whirled around and shoved him so hard that he landed face down on the stage. Lois started to go over and make sure that he was all right, but she needn't have worried. During which time, Luthor made a run for it taking down two more cops with some impressive martial arts skills before exiting out one of the side doors.

Henderson just jumped right back onto his feet and took off after his prey. "Don't worry, Lois, we'll get him. All the exits are surrounded." He called over his shoulder as he and a fellow detective slammed into the door, coming to an abrupt stop. Luthor had locked it behind him and the door refused to budge.

Perry walked over to his star reporter and threw his arm around her. In a rare display of emotion, she buried her head into his shoulder. The shock had worn off and the truth about what was happening was just beginning to hit her. Glaring at the door, Mr. White wished for just five minutes alone with Luthor once he was taken into custody.

"Where's Clark?" Lois asked, her voice muffled because she still had her head buried in her boss' shoulder. Feeling Perry's grip around her tighten, she knew it wasn't good news.

"No one knows, honey. Kent received a call from Mrs. Cox and went to look for Superman. No one has seen either of them since."

* * *

Luthor raced down to the basement and grabbed the ax that had been left near the doorway. He took a couple of deep breaths before quickly making his way down the remaining stairs to stand in front of the cage.

Superman was lying on his side, the white cummerbund gripped tightly in his hand. The key that Lex had been carefully placed on the wine barrel was now on the floor. Luthor just stared. Surely, the Kryptonite couldn't have killed him that quickly. The billionaire observed his adversary closely for a few minutes before he spotted it. The Man of Steel's chest was slowly rising and falling. The motion was extremely faint, but it was there. The superhero wasn't dead, merely unconscious.

"Not for long." Luthor muttered to himself as he bent down to pick up the keys. He was in the process of unlocking the cage when he heard pounding on the door that led into the wine cellar. Screaming in rage, Lex slammed the ax into one of the wine barrels before dashing towards and disappearing inside a secret passage way.

"Shit! Patrick, it's Superman." He heard one of the cops say as the door slid shut behind him.

"Is he dead?"

"No, he's breathing. Barely, but it's there."

"What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know. What I do know is that we need to get him the hell out of here. I'll wager a month's salary that it has to do something to do with whatever that green stuff is that's painted onto the cage bars.

"What about that rat bastard?"

"Luthor? The exits are secured, he won't get away. We'll find him."

_We'll see about that._ Lex thought to himself as he headed for his penthouse office.

* * *

Luthor burst out of the passageway, through a painting, into his office. Running over to his computer, he began to delete some of the more incriminating files.

Just as Lex was attempting to lock up his day planner, Inspector Henderson, followed by several cops, flooded into the room. Glancing up, Luthor hit a button and the doorway to his balcony slid open. As soon as it was open, Lex raced through it coming to an abrupt halt by the balcony's ledge.

"It's over Luthor. Give up and turn yourself in."

"Lex Luthor will not live in a cage!" He shouted as he clambered up onto the ledge.

"Luthor don't do it!" Henderson ordered, pointing his finger at the man who was so used to getting his own way.

Ignoring the Inspector, Lex looked down before returning his attention back to the cops. "Did you know that this is the tallest building in Metropolis? Did you? This is the top of the world." With that, he gave Henderson a small wave, turned, and jumped.

During the fall, he saw the people below looking up and pointing. From where he was, they looked like ants. One of them, he could make out was Superman thanks to his ridiculous brightly colored outfit. The billionaire figured that he was too weak from the Kryptonite exposure to be able to reach him in time. The ground was now rushing up to greet him. Lex would be hitting it any second now…

* * *

Luthor bolted awake. It had been almost two years to the day, and the nightmare was still as fresh as the day it had first happened. Lex took a couple of deep breaths as he tried to calm his heart rate down.

"Keep it down in there!" The guard's voice shouted, as he hit his baton on the doors to the steel cage that held Luthor. The man wanted to grab that stick and shove it where the sun didn't shine, but he wasn't in the mood to deal with getting tasered. Instead of reacting the way in which the guard wanted, the prisoner said nothing. He just settled down on his cot and reflected on just how things had gone so wrong.

Once again, Luthor had underestimated the Man of Steel's sheer determination. Superman had indeed caught him. However, just as Lex had anticipated, he was weak enough that Superman merely slowed his fall just enough that it wasn't fatal. Instead of killing himself, Luthor was left wishing that he was dead. The billionaire had ended up with multiple broken bones in his body, as well as some internal bleeding.

When the prison doctor told Luthor that he was lucky to be alive and it was a miracle that he hadn't broken his back, Lex simply glared at him. If he could have, Lex would have given his doctor a mouthful. As it was, unfortunately for him, his mouth was wired shut.

Shaking his head, Luthor went back to planning his escape. The one good thing that came out of his imprisonment was that he was being held in solitary confinement both for his safety as well as the safety of the rest of the prison population.

Once Luthor had escaped, he would plan his revenge. But, first things first, he was going to get out of this dismal place.

Lex Luthor will not live in a cage.


End file.
